All processes under control

They are called Glam Wedding Pink, Curcuma Sun, Royal Pearl Black or Prince of Bengal—to name just a few of the unusual rice varieties that Lotao offers alongside other specialties. The food products are imported and, in some cases, refined, packaged, prepared, picked and shipped. To ensure everything runs smoothly, the company has been using the winweb-food ERP system for just over six months.

At Lotao’s administrative office in Berlin, all operations converge under Managing Director Stefan Fak. From here, processes are managed and allocated according to capacity either to the company’s own facility in Ribnitz-Damgarten or to external service providers. “Prices for our specialty products fluctuate considerably, so before placing an order, we obtain current prices from various exporters,” Fak explains. Only then is the rice ordered through the ERP system in the relevant local currency, depending on delivery terms, availability and price, and the account settled with the suppliers . When the food arrives in Germany, it is recorded in goods receiving in winweb-food by batch and best-before date. The relevant specifications and certificates are already stored in the system.

At the same time orders are received through the company’s own online shop, from wholesalers and retailers as well as by telephone, fax, EDI order or email and are entered by employees. This allows production to be planned directly in the ERP system, raw materials, packaging materials and finished products to be ordered from and/or transferred between the various service providers and picking orders to be allocated. “We serve around 3,000 wholesale and retail customers as well as private customers ordering through the online shop and have to coordinate 60 finished products and around 500 raw materials and packaging materials to do so,” says Fak.

Once the production orders for the individual service providers have been created, they are automatically sent to the companies concerned. Each processor reports the product batches and quantities to Lotao to ensure end-to-end traceability for organic certification. This means that the production order is complete, is closed and only then are the goods available in the system. Service providers with system access use a quick stock receipt screen in winweb-food where they can select and receive only the orders relevant to them. Production orders are created based on stored recipes, posted during goods preparation and made available for further processing.

The finished specialties are then recorded in the ERP system with batch numbers and best-before dates and packed into customer-specific mixed cartons and displays before the orders are forwarded virtually within the system and physically to the warehouse . After order picking, the delivery notes and the corresponding invoices are printed or sent to customers as files via electronic data interchange. For wholesale and retail, the system automatically generates SSCC labels as shipping labels.

In winweb-food, quality assurance is supported by detailed inspections that are automatically documented and carried out within the process chain, ensuring high quality standards. “QA has now become one of the most important requirements in the food sector. Every processing step is monitored, the origin of the raw materials is fully documented, and everything can be verified at any time,” says Winweb Managing Director Willi von Berg.
As an owner-managed, medium-sized company, IT specialist Winweb has been developing and selling ERP software for the food industry since 1997. User-focused innovations and rapid responses to individual requirements are at the heart of its work. More than 250 customers rely on its extensive expertise in delivering solutions. Lotao is one of them.

Austrian entrepreneur Stefan Fak founded Lotao in Berlin in 2010. The company brings Asian rice varieties exclusively to the German-speaking market and aims to convey a distinctive lifestyle through the stories associated with them. Its premium products are positioned in the gourmet food segment and are aimed at discerning customers who care about the quality and origin of their food. The range has since been expanded to include coconut and jackfruit products, all of which are available through the company’s own online shop, specialist gourmet food retailers and several wholesale chains.

www.lotao.com
www.winweb.de